


Predators in Santa Barbara

by Fireflykat



Series: Anomalies in America [3]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Primeval, Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Anomaly (Primeval), BAMF Connor Temple, F/M, Geniuses, Hurt Connor Temple, M/M, Shawn being nosy, Unsub | Unknown Subject, eidetic memory, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28400844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireflykat/pseuds/Fireflykat
Summary: Connor appears in the middle of Santa Barbara after a Predator messes up a BAU investigation.Chapter added and chapter 2 and 3 have minor editsFor shawn’s backstory with the BAU read SSA Shawn SpencerOrThree Geniuses with Eidetic memories meet and compare notes
Relationships: Abby Maitland/Original Male Character, Carlton Lassiter/Shawn Spencer, Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid, Hilary James Becker/Connor Temple
Series: Anomalies in America [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043580
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

Connor sat at the rusted table sharpening one of his many knives when his pocket anomaly detector went off. He shot up off his metal stool which tipped over, threatening to fall. Deftly his hand shot out to catch it before it could hit the ground and alert any Predators of his presence. He took a deep breath, willing his heart rate to go down then grabbed his detector and located where the anomaly was located. He had to get there, quick. Predators loved the glowing spheres of energy, and he couldn’t let any of those killing machines through to whenever the anomaly led to. He grabbed the silver gun next to him, slipped his knife into its sheath on his thigh, and ran towards the door of his hideout. He carefully slipped out the door and slowly made his way down the ruined street. The rusty cars sat dusty in the setting sun, not having moved in decades. He snuck past a felled statue, scanning his surroundings. A Predator shot towards him and he shot it imobile while it was still in the air. It fell with a mundane thud to the concrete of the street below. The anomaly was right ahead, only 50 feet in front of him. He could see a swarm of predators flinging themselves toward the light. Dread welled inside him as he could already see the first of them vanishing into thin air, heading straight for it and ready to terrorize a new time.

Connor sped towards the group, self-preservation last thing on his mind. He shot beam after beam of electricity at the human-sized black creatures. Ten were down, Connor had 20 feet left to go before he was standing right in front of the shining portal. He had to think fast, get their attention away from the light. He looked around and saw a car. *bang bang bang* He took his gun and hit the metal of the car over and over. It worked, the creatures turned on him instead. He jumped on the hood of the car, raced up to the roof and leaped over the herd of Predators that were still gathering on the ground, swiftly following in his tracks. He landed hard and rolled bringing up his gun as he did so, he kept shooting every time he saw black limbs in his field of vision. He was thankful that Becker had been so adamant about field training once he got back from their trip to America a few years previous. Predator after Predator went down, the group dwindled but still followed him as he made his way to the anomaly. He reached it but stopped directly in front of it. He would wait until it was closing and run through. He had been doing that with every Anomaly he came across during his trek through time. Wait and guard the anomaly until it was fading, then as it flickers, jump through so nothing could follow. He had learned his lesson the last time, when he brought the Herrerasauruses back from the Triassic. It wasn’t fun getting them back. This way as little damage was made to the timeline as possible. Predators were especially bad, he didn’t want those getting out at any time. He stayed and watched, at the edge of the cliff where the Anomaly happened to be located, for any creatures who may want to get through and fought them off. It was his duty as an ARC agent. As one of the original ARC agents. 

It felt like hours later when he had stunned every one of the predators from the original swarm. His gun battery was empty and he slung it over his back. Taking out his knives he stood ready, one knife in each hand, waiting for something to come at him. He saw a flash of white fangs and black limbs coming at him and he struck out with his blade. Another one was on the first’s heels and he struck that one a deadly blow as well. He saw a third and fourth coming down the street. He threw the knives with a lethal accuracy and they both went down. He took two more blades from their holsters as a giant bug flew at him. He jumped and impaled the underbelly pulling it down and slamming it to the earth below. Another predator flew past him. He flung a knife at it and it hit as it was going through the anomaly. He reached through and pulled it back, grabbing the knife and wiping it on his trousers. He threw the thing with the rest of the dead predators. Systematically he continued to kill every future creature that approached the shining rip in time, not above using gravity and nature to do the work for him and simply kicking them hard enough to fall off the cliff, until he noticed while taking down another bug that it had turned into a hard sphere. Someone had locked it from the other side. He breathed a sigh of relief. It meant that whenever he was going to was far enough in the future/past/ his own current timeline, that the Anomaly locker had been invented.

He searched his surroundings for any creatures that could come flying at him. He threw a knife at an approaching predator and took out his detector from his pocket. He pushed a few buttons and the sphere turned back into a bunch of shards of broken mirror surrounding a golden light. After taking a few steps back, he ran at the anomaly and leaped through the air, landing hard on one foot, panting. He couldn’t stop to catch his breath knowing what was on the other side of the light, though. Scanning his surroundings he saw a familiar device without registering what it meant. He ran towards it, pushed a few buttons, and fell back with his arms spread wide, exhausted. 

“Connor?” a familiar voice asked.

* * *

The BAU walked into the SBPD to consult on a serial kidnapping and rape case. Or at least, that’s what it had started as. Until the two kidnap victims turned up dead. A third one turned up not 20 minutes earlier in a deserted area and not dropped off wearing women’s clothing and make-up in front of a church. The victims had all been closeted homosexual men who were in heterosexual relationships. After 8 victims were found alive with an increasing number of injuries sustained during the assault, and two dead over the course of a 6 week period, Karen Vick decided to go to the FBI, after their resident psychic detective Shawn Spencer stopped turning up new leads. Shawn was the one who had figured out that they were all closeted homosexuals with long term wives or girlfriends, and they were all seen to at one of two gay bars the night they went missing. It was a tough case, but Shawn acknowledged that what he was trained to do had little to do with creating a profile for a killer. Of course when the BAU heard that the SBPD had a psychic detective on their payroll, they were more than a little suspicious. 

It was when they went to see the third body of the victim that things got strange. It had just been brought in to Woody, the Coroner, who hadn’t even started his exam when Morgan and Prentiss went down to have a look. They could tell immediately that something was off. There were two deep horizontal gash marks running from left to right across the body that nearly cut him in half.  
The first two deaths had been relatively simple to conclude. They had multiple broken bones and had bled out from a treatable stab wound somewhere on their body. The theory was that they had been incapacitated and dropped at the church either very late at night, or very early in the morning. The kidnapper then stabbed a vital artery so they would have bled out in a matter of minutes, leaving no time for anyone to save them. It was his last sadistic act before leaving them to bleed out on their own. 

“This wasn’t the kidnapper.” Morgan said at once. He and Prentiss were looking at the body while Hotch and Rossi were checking out the crime scene. JJ was talking to past victims, and Reid was working on a geographical profile. 

“Hotch and Rossi need to get away from that crime scene, Now” Prentiss agreed. Morgan was already on the phone.

“Hotch, tell me you haven’t gotten to the crime scene yet.” Morgan demanded of his boss. 

“We are almost there, why?” 

“The victim wasn’t killed by the kidnapper,” Morgan relayed. “If we are right, we have a much bigger problem.”

“What sort of problem?” asked Rossi over the line. 

“It’s not human, I will tell you that much.” Prentiss said from their side. 

“Turning around” 

“Where was the body found?” Prentiss asked, “Is it somewhere near a lot of people?” 

“No, deserted, area of the beach.” 

“One of us should find the Locker that Connor left us a few years back. I think we might be needing it.” Morgan said with trepidation.

“Hotch, Look OUT!” Rossi shouted from the other end. There was a giant CRASH 

“What the Hell is that thing?” 

“That isn’t any sort of dinosaur.”

“Hotch! Rossi? Are you ok?” Prentiss nearly shouted into the phone. 

“SHIT! AARON, Hit it again!” They heard gunshots.

“Dave, just shoot it!”

“I am!”

“It won’t die!” 

“Aim for the head, the eyes!” more gunshots, then a few sighs of relief 

“Thank god for that.”

“What happened?” Morgan and Prentiss asked together. 

“I think we found what killed the last victim, and it’s not pretty.”

“But at least it’s dead now” Rossi reasoned. 

“It is definitely not from around here.” Hotch continued, “I think you’re right Morgan, there must be an anomaly around here.”

“I’ll tell Reid to meet you guys with the locker.” Morgan replied, “Be on the lookout for any more of those things.”

“Will do.” Hotch returned. They hung up. 

Morgan dialed again. “Reid, the final victim, you don’t need to include his place of death in your geographical profile. He wasn’t killed by the unsub.” 

“We should head back up,” Prentiss said, leaving the autopsy room. Morgan nodded and followed her. 

“What do you mean.” Reid asked, curiously

“What I mean is, I will be up in a moment, but you and I need to go get the Locker from the plane and meet Hotch and Rossi ASAP, because there is one open somewhere and we need to make sure nothing gets through.” 

“...Got it.” Reid hung up 

* * *

Rossi stood in front of another large golden light with fragments of broken mirror spinning outward from the center. “It is quite lovely,” He mused aloud. 

“Don’t go near it.” Hotch replied absently. He was texting Garcia to send Morgan their exact coordinates. 

Suddenly another one of the things that they hit with their car fell limply through the golden light. There was a knife deeply embedded in its chest. A pair of hands grabbed it and pulled it back through the tear in time. 

“I was wondering why we weren’t getting more creatures over here.” Rossi mused.

“Someone must be helping from the other side.” Hotch agreed.

They stood on the beach, miles from any civilians, watching the spinning light. 

An hour later Reid and Morgan drove up and Reid hopped out of the car carrying a silver briefcase. He opened it and pulled out a silver sphere on a stick, and opened a small tablet computer. Reid quickly typed a sequence of numbers and letters, as Connor had taught him a few years previously, and the large glowing light with spinning shards of glass turned into a tight sphere made of those same shards of glass. 

They watched the locked anomaly spin for a few minutes breathing a sigh of relief when suddenly it opened again. The four FBI agents immediately pulled their weapons, pointing them at the opened Anomaly. A figure burst through the light, landing solidly on one foot with his knee on the ground. Before any of the members of the BAU present could fully register who had come through the Anomaly, they had run to the locker and pushed a few buttons, locking it again. The figure then fell back on the sand, arms splayed wide (knives still clutched in his hands, Rossi noted) and closed his eyes. 

It was unmistakably Connor Temple. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor reacquaints himself with the team and meets the SBPD
> 
> Connor gets to try and explain where he has been to Lester :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are for when someone is on the other end of the phone

“Connor?” Morgan asked astounded, “Is that you?” 

Connor looked around, pushing himself off his back and resting on his hands. “Derek? Spencer? Agent Hotchner? David Rossi?! Hey! I’m back! Wait… What year is this?” 

Hotch felt his lips quirk into a smirk. “2014, it's been three years since our adventure in New Jersey.” 

“How long have you been gone this time kid?” Rossi asked with a laugh.

“Depends, what’s the date?” Connor asked, thinking. 

“August 15th, it’s 3pm” Spencer replied. “When did you leave?”

“Depends on how you look at it.” Connor said getting up. “Technically, I guess I’ve been gone for a week. At least, if you ask anyone at the ARC.”

“What about according to you?” Morgan asked curiously. 

“Two years, two months, and five days.” Connor said promptly. “Give or take a few hours.” He looked around. “Where are we? Is this California? BRILLIANT!! I’ve always wanted to go!” 

“Did you say two years?” Hotch asked, “That’s a long time to survive on your own.”

“When I got back from my last adventure I got some survival stuff and have been making sure to keep it on me every time we go to an Anomaly just in case. Flint and steel, first aid kit - needle and copper thread, looked over my edible fungi and medicinal plants, knives,” He showed them his knives in their sheaths as he slipped the ones he was still holding away again, the ones on his ankle, the one on his thighs, the one under his shirt. “And a few other basic necessities. Just in case.”

“Let’s head back to the precinct,” Hotch said, “We still have a case here.” 

“On the way, you can fill us in on how you got stuck in the past again.” Morgan winked at him

“I didn’t mean to.” Connor huffed as he got in an SUV with Morgan and Reid. “I was helping Becker herd back an Allosaurus… Big buggers, took like three of us to get it though, it’s a carnivore so we had to sedate it before it caused too much trouble, anyway, we had gotten it through when the anomaly started to fade, Becker and FInn were in front they had gotten through when suddenly the Allosaurus started to stir and growl, I couldn’t get past it. By the time I had gone around the other side of it, as slow and careful as I could because I didn’t want to wake the thing, the anomaly had winked out of existence and I was stuck in the Jurassic. I had my anomaly detector though, so every time an anomaly popped up within 5 miles of me, I would know. I started guarding them to make sure nothing got through, then I would slip through at the last second when it was fading. Didn’t want another incident like New Jersey. That was annoying.” 

“Annoying?” Morgan looked at him, an eyebrow raised. “You nearly died.”

“Like I said,” Connor huffed again. “Annoying.”

“Nice to see you in once piece.” Reid said, “How long were you fighting on the other side of that thing? What were you fighting? When were you anyway?”

“Oh,” Connor grinned, “That was the Future.” He replied. “But trust me, you do NOT want to see it. I have no idea how far in the future it is, but the creatures are real monsters. The Predator especially. It has bat DNA so it can use echolocation. Nightmare to try to hide from.”

“Does it have long claws?” Morgan asked, curious.

“Yeah, why?” Connor answered

“Because we think one of our Vics was killed by one.” Reid replied. 

“You met them already?” He cried. “FUCK! I knew some had got through, but I thought we had more time. There was a few minutes of a delay in me getting in front of the Anomaly, I saw some getting through as I approached, I didn’t think we would have to deal with them this soon though...”

“I think Rossi and Hotch took care of it.” Morgan assured him. 

“There will be more…” Connor assured him with a worrying tone.

They arrived at the police department, 

“Hotch,” Connor said to the agent. “I am so sorry you had to deal with a predator, they are mean buggers, I tried to keep them away from the anomaly, but it took me a few minutes before I could get there, I saw some get through as I ran to get in front of them. But there were a few dozen of them ahead of me already...” He tried to explain. 

“Connor,” Hotch put a hand on his shoulder, “You are only human, it happens, I can imagine what it was like dealing with all of them over there. When were you anyway? You said that thing was a predator?” 

“It’s the Future.” He shrugged. “Not a nice one. The creatures are part bat, so they use echolocation to navigate. It took me a while to figure out how to deal with them. Thankfully it was a time I could rig up a charger for the battery of my EMD.” He pointed at the gun on his back. “I should call Lester.”

“I called him already to inform him that we had an anomaly.” Hotch said, “But I haven’t let him know yet that you stepped out of it. 

“God, I need to call Becks.” Connor pulled out his phone. It was out of battery. 

“So you charged your EMD but not your phone, huh?” Hotch smirked slightly. 

“The EMD seemed a little more important.” Connor said defensively “It’s not like I could actually USE my phone… Do you have a charger I could borrow?”

“Sure, but in the meantime, just use my phone, ok?” They entered the police department

“Connor?”

“Connor?” 

“Prentiss? JJ?” He ran over to the women and gave them a hug. 

“Got stuck somewhere again, huh?” Prentiss asked, smiling. 

“You say that like that’s all I ever do! It’s been a good three years…” Connor rambled his excuses, eyeing the man on the table between the women, purposely making what he was saying as vague as possible.“Ok, year and a half, but that was only an afternoon, so it doesn’t count! And Becks was with me! And Abbs, and Finn…”

JJ and Prentiss laughed endearingly and JJ wrapped Connor in a hug. “We know it’s not all you do, Garcia and Reid tell us about their communications with them. Which seem to be on opposite ends of the genius spectrum but both quite fun. So where did you get stuck?”

“It was a few somewheres, and more like somewhen’s actually” He grinned. He watched the man on the table and met his eyes, then turned back to the women from the BAU ignoring the feeling of being studied. The man had brown hair, was wearing flip-flops, a polo shirt, cargo shorts, and was drinking a bright yellow drink. Connor felt extremely self conscious, he hadn’t bathed since he got stuck in the Future, nearly three months previously, and he was wearing the same clothes that he was wearing for the past two years. He had washed them periodically when he found water, but they were ragged and falling apart. His shirt had strips torn from it from when he needed bandages. He looked down at himself. “I just realised it’s been a few years...”

“How long?” Prentiss asked without specifying anything. 

“For me? Or for them?” Connor asked with a mischievous smile. 

“How can it be different?” JJ asked curiously 

“Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey” he waved his hand, as though brushing away the question. The man with the polo shirt gave a bark of laughter.  
“Can we help you Mr. Spencer?” Prentiss asked, turning to him. 

“Where did you find this guy?” The man they called Spencer asked. “He looks like he has been running from dinosaurs or something.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” JJ maintained, 

“I just got back from a survival weekend,” Connor said, trying to sound casual. ”My job takes it very seriously, every few years they send us to different parts of the world to try to survive for a week or two.” 

“You just said survival ‘weekend’” The man with the polo pointed out.

“That’s what it’s called.” Connor nodded. “But it’s normally about 10 days. They send us out there with nothing more than what we can fit in our pockets. Also, remind me, I have to thank Spencer for his book recommendations, they really helped pass the time.”

Reid walked up behind them then. “Thank me for what?” He said with a soft smile. 

“Oh, just saying that your book recommendations got me through my uh” Connor broke off, looking at the strange man with the polo.

“Survival weekend?” JJ supplied. Connor grinned at her with a radiant smile. 

“Yeah, that,” He laughed. 

“I thought you didn’t bring any of that stuff with you.” Emily said, the unsaid question in the air. 

Spencer looked at Connor for a moment then gave him a smile. “Happy to help.” Connor beamed. “Which was your favourite thing that you read?”

Connor thought for a moment, “Well, Lord of the Rings is always a favourite, but I read that for the first time in grade school. The History of Kings was fun to read as I was you know, history, I don’t know, I read a lot. Had a lot of time to myself.”

“Not sure I get it,” Emily said to JJ as Connor and Spencer talked books. 

“I think it’s an eidetic memory thing…” JJ supplied.

“Does Connor have an eidetic memory too?” Emily asked, slightly surprised 

“I’ve never been tested,” Connor looked at the women and smirked at their reactions. “But if what Spencer says about an eidetic memory is true, then, probably.”

“Ever have that IQ test?” Spencer asked.

“184,” the Brit replied, slightly smugly. 

“If I was Morgan, I think I would give you a high five right now, but I don’t like touching in normal circumstances, and I don’t know when the last time you bathed was….” Spencer started rambling and Connor broke out into a laugh. 

“It’s fine, I get it. I wouldn’t want to touch me either.” He grinned at the older genius. There was a large slurp from behind them and an empty cup was tossed over their heads and landed in the bin.

“Slam Dunk!” the Polo shirted man said with a pump of his fist. Connor raised his eyebrow to Spencer who just rolled his eyes

“SPENCER!” A tall thin man with black hair and a fierce scowl shouted across the station. The man got up and walked over to the desk. 

“What’s up Lassie?” They heard him say cheerfully.

“You and Guster have not been invited in on this case,” said the furious thin man. “Go bother someone else and leave the FBI alone.” 

“That kid is not FBI.” He said pointing at Connor, “He’s British. And we were originally on this case, you can’t kick us off now...” 

Connor smirked with Prentiss and JJ

A woman with dirty blond hair came up next to them. “Go home Shawn, we will call you if we need your visions, ok?”

“FINE!” He called as he exited the police department, “But I don’t believe for one second that you were on a survival weekend!”

“Technically I was on a survival weekend,” Connor said quietly to JJ and Prentiss, “But it lasted two years, not two weeks. And it is true I was stuck with only the stuff I had in my pockets.”

“You got stuck for two years?” JJ gasped.

“For me.” Connor shrugged. “For Becks and Abbs, it will only have been a week. God, the report I’m gonna have to write when I get back is going to be a nightmare.” He sighed.

“What period did you end up in?” Prentiss asked.

“Started in the Jurassic, went to the Permian for a while, Devonian, then the Paleogene, the Cretacious, then the Future. The future was the last Era I was in. And no, it is not fun.” Connor replied. “I mean I could tell you the exact amount of time I spent in each period, but I’m guessing you don’t really care.” He grinned. 

Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan came up. “Enough socialising,” Hotch said seriously. He looked around. “Where are we with the case? Why did Shawn leave, we need him.”

Lassiter looked flabbergasted. “You mean that’s  _ true _ ?” Juliet and the Chief looked equally stunned. [See _SSA Shawn Spencer_ ]

Morgan nodded. “Of course, why wouldn’t it be? We miss him since he’s been gone, always the one to bring up the energy in the group.” 

“That sounds like Shawn.” Juliet said with a smirk. 

“Why do you call him ‘Shawn’ and not ‘Spencer’?” the Chief asked

The BAU looked at Reid, He tried to explain, “I believe I gave my first name when I introduced myself earlier, but my full name is Spencer Reid. It gets confusing to have two Spencers, so everyone calls us by our other name, He’s Shawn, I’m Reid. It’s a little less formal for him, but far less confusing for us.”

“Now that is out of the way, JJ?” Hotch looked at their liaison.

“If we take out the death of the final victim from the victimology, and just look at the person before he died, it fits more with our profile.” JJ said. “It would mean he was held until this morning, when the anomaly opened, and that they are held somewhere close by.” 

“Not necessarily.” Connor said. “Predators have practically human levels of intelligence when it comes to hunting. They can follow prey once they catch the scent for miles. They are blind but use echolocation in order to hear frequencies and palpitations of the heart. They are fast as anything and will travel for long distances in order to catch prey.”

Reid walked over to the map he was working on. He had certain churches marked in green, two bars marked in yellow, and a third spot in red. “If you add in the spot of the anomaly,” He added a white tack off slightly from the rest of the marks. “The geographical profile is most likely somewhere between where our final victim was killed, and where the other ones were dropped at churches.”

“They each get dropped at a different church?” Connor asked. 

“What do you see kid?” Rossi asked

Connor pointed to a church between the anomaly site and the kill site. “This is probably the church they were headed to when they were attacked. I’m guessing the person who did the kidnapping was there too, if he had a run in with a Predator, he would be in bad shape.” 

“Nice work,” Hotch said, “We should check hospitals and Emergency rooms for men matching our description with injuries similar to the ones our vic had.” 

“We should try private christian hospitals also.” Prentiss supplied. 

“Morgan, ask Garcia to check to see if anywhere, (pharmacies, vets offices, doctors offices) has had medical supplies stolen from it in the last 5-6 hours.” Hotch ordered. Morgan nodded and opened his phone. 

“We still haven’t completed a full profile.” Rossi noted. 

“You and Reid stay here and work on that.” He said, “Connor, come with me, we will check emergency rooms, JJ, you will come with us, Prentiss, you and Morgan go and check private christian hospitals. Ask Garcia what and where they are, then keep working regular ERs. There can’t be too many hospitals in Santa Barbara. 

“There is only one hospital in Santa Barbara.” Connor said, pointing it out on the map where Reid was standing. “It’s right here.” Hotch thought for a moment. 

“Ok, JJ, Connor, you come with me. Connor you will be able to recognise the injuries a predator makes right.” Connor nodded. “Great. Everyone else, keep working on the profile. If we are right, he kidnaps them, holds them for two days then leaves them at a church, he will strike in the next two days if he can.”

“Should we tell the chief that we are going to search the hospital for him?” JJ asked. 

“Yes, why don’t we fill her in on our theory and if she wants to send a detective with us, she can.” 

* * *

Hotch knocked on the door to the Chief’s office. “Come in.” He walked into the office. “Agent Hotchner, How is the profile coming along?”

“We are nearly done.” Hotch said seriously. “We are going to go follow a lead. If your detectives want to join us they are more than welcome.” She nodded and walked to the door. 

“O’Hara, Lassiter!” she called, and waved them inside

“Chief,” The tall man named Lassiter said, nodding his head,

“Chief Vick,” The shorter woman said. 

“Agent Hotchner was saying that he was going to follow up a lead if you wanted to join him.” She relayed. 

“Yes,” He said, taking over. “We have reason to believe that the final victim was not killed by the unsub, but by an outside attacker on the way to the drop point. If this is true, it is possible that the unsub is in a hospital badly injured.”

“What gave you this reasoning?” Detective Lassiter asked, suspicious. 

Connor stepped forward. “Connor Temple, ma’am, I work for the Home Office, in London, and have assisted Agent Hotchner and the BAU in the past. I happened to find myself here, and Agent Hotchner told me of the case, and the lacerations on the victim. I have seen these injuries before, and am familiar with what makes them. It isn’t a tool or anything human.”

“What is it then?” Chief Vick asked curiously. 

“Uh… That would be classified. Under the Official Secrets act, I cannot tell you.” He said sheepishly. “Sorry, Ma’am.”

“Agent Hotchner has been briefed on the details?”

“Yes, Ma’am”

“And the threat has been taken care of.” Hotch said confidently. Connor pulled him aside. 

“Hotch, these creatures move in groups, I saw more than one go through before I managed to get ahead of them, I only saw two or three get through, but there could be alot more. Also, someone should have really stayed behind to watch it until it fades.” 

“But we locked it.” Hotch said, confused,

“What if the lock shorts, or something hits it?” Hotch gave a sharp nod. 

They turned back to the Chief. “Actually, I really need to call my superior. Is there a phone I could use?”

The shorter woman with long dirty blond hair held up a hand. “You can use mine if you need.” She said then held out her hand. “Juliet O’Hara, Junior detective, this is my partner,” she hit Lassiter’s arm lightly, “Carlton Lassiter.” 

He gave a big dimpled smile and shook it. “Hello, Sorry about” he looked at his clothes. “All this” He gestured at the rags. “Survival training.” 

Hotch snorted and JJ elbowed him. 

“You can use my phone and then I’m sure we have something in Lost and Found that we can give you.” She said kindly, opening the door to the office.

“Great!” He followed her out to her desk. She dialed a few numbers to be able to reach an outside number and handed him the phone, then she went down the hall of the peach stucco police department and down the stairs. He dialled the familiar number.

“ _Lester”_ said the voice on the other line when it answered. 

“OH! You’re there! I was thinking you might not be, it’s rather late.” Connor said, looking at the clock on the wall. 

“ _CONNOR!”_ Lester practically shouted into the receiver. “ _Where are you?”_

“So… Fun story”

_“I’m not going to like this, am I?”_

“Probably not, that Anomaly Agent Hotchner called you about, I just happened to be on the other side. Also, I know it’s been like a week since that Anomaly to the Jurassic, but I came from one that was from the Future. At least three Predators got by me before I was able to stand guard. You will like this bit though, I fought off 50 of them, and I don’t have a scratch!”

 _“OK, So you managed to make it through without ending up in the hospital. Becker will be so proud.”_ He said dryly. _“What is this about predators in California?”_

“Right, So at least one has killed at least one person.” Connor started. “And at least one Predator is dead. We don’t know if it is the same one. I am not sure how many got by me. It took me 2 minutes and 35 seconds to get from where I was hiding to be in view of the Anomaly when I was in the future. And I left as soon as I saw it appear on my detector. But that is a long time, generally, there could be a dozen that we don’t know about running around over here.”

“ _...Anderson, Merchant, Becker, Maitland and some SFs will be over as soon as possible.”_

“Oh, Lester?” Connor’s voice sounded wary. “What do you want to do about the police chief and detectives over here? The BAU is here investigating a kidnapping case, I may be able to keep it in house. But, I’m not sure.”

 _“I’ll call Agent Hotchner and discuss the details.”_ Lester replied after a moment. 

“Thanks! You will love my report. Two years worth of adventures crammed into a single week!” 

“ _Wait, Two yea-”_ Connor hung up the phone. O’Hara walked up behind him holding a t-shirt.

“Here you go,” She said, handing it to him.

“Thanks!” He said with a grin, “Seriously.” He stripped off his waistcoat, took off the knife sheaths, and removed his shirt. Juliet gasped audibly. She stared at his body, it was well built, lean and muscular, and _covered_ in scars. A large one across his back reached from his shoulder blade to his hip, there looked to be a bite on his shoulder, there was an old puncture wound on his opposite hip. Another scratch running down the other way on his back. Many small scratches covered his arms. He turned and looked at her. His chest also had many faded scars. Some looked rather fresh. She could see some copper thread poking out from a wound on his pelvis, his trousers covering most of it, a makeshift belt tying his trousers together after being ripped in the same place. He gave her a cheeky grin. She only noticed now how very skinny he was. Too skinny. 

“Survival training is the worst.” He winked and threw on the t-shirt, adding the knife holsters on top. “Do you mind if I make another call?” 

“Go ahead.” She dialed out again and handed the phone to Connor. 

“ _Becker”_

“Hey Becks!”

“ _Connor?! Bloody hell, Where have you been for the last week, I’ve been worried sick!”_

 _“Is that Connor?”_ another voice said, female and bubbly. “ _Is he alright?”_

“Hi Abbs,” Connor apologised profusely, “I was, you know, then, there, everwhere. All over. It’s been a little longer than a week for me.” 

“ _What do you mean a little longer?”_ Becker sounded suspicious 

“Two years, give or take…”

“ _Connor…”_

“Fine, Two years, two months and five days… Happy? And if you really want to know seven hours and 45 seconds. With the time change. But who’s counting?”

“ _Are you ok?”_ Becker sounded concerned, “ _Where are you?”_

“Yeah, so about that,” Connor laughed, sheepishly. “I got spat out in California, Santa Barbara, after a short trip to the future.” He could hear both Abby and Becker wince on the other end. “I’m ok! I learned how to deal with _them_ in the first week I was there, but I think I accidentally let a few slip by me while I was guarding the…, ya know. One killed someone, and one is dead, and there may be some more running around. Lester said he is sending some of you lot out to help me round them up. Abbs, have you figured out their behavior yet?”

“ _I know that they like to move in packs, so you are probably right about there not being just one. It comes from the batlike nature. I will keep looking over my notes of our past encounters with them and work something out.”_ She said thoughtfully

“I need to go back and guard it until you guys get here, tell Matt and Em and Finn that I’m ok and I will see them soon, yeah?”

“ _Hey Conn?”_

“Yeah, Becks?”

“ _Be Careful, yeah?”_

“Always,” He could hear the man on the other end roll his eyes. “Love you, see you soon.”

“ _I love you too Conn, please stay in one piece.”_ He hung up and saw Juliet giving him a strange look.

“Shall we go back in?” He asked lightly.

Together they walked over to the Chief’s office where JJ, Hotch, and Lassiter were still gathered, and Juliet knocked, opening the door right after. 

Connor went to Hotch immediately. “Lester is going to call you.” He said to the man. “So have fun with that. “And he is sending the team out.” Hotch raised his eyebrows. “There were two minutes and thirty five seconds for those things to come through without me seeing. Considering they move in packs, we have to be careful. You have seen what they could do. We are more equipped.” Hotch nodded.

“I’m sorry, can someone please tell me what is going on?” Chief Vick asked, frustrated. 

“I really can’t,” Connor said, apologetically, “But my boss is going to call Agent Hotchner and tell him what he will be allowed to disclose to you and if he is allowed to fill you in on the details. It really is highly classified. And highly dangerous, so I recommend you let me and my team deal with it. In the meantime, I should get back over there and make sure it stays closed, it probably has a few hours left yet. Who saw the body? They can identify the marks.”

“Rossi will drive you back. Be careful!” Hotch said as Connor walked out of the office. 

“Always!” He waved back

JJ turned to Hotch, “You aren’t letting him guard that thing on his own are you?” She asked him. “Last time he dealt with something coming from that thing he nearly died.”

“I remember,” Hotch said, already regretting his decision, “But he was holding them off on the other side of that thing for at least a good few hours on his own earlier today, and we aren’t even sure if there are any more out there.”

“Ok, but be ready to call a bus.” She sighed. 

“Agents,” Chief Vick said, bringing their attention back to the police in the room. “You were chasing a lead?”

“Yes,” Hotch straightened. “We are going to the emergency room to see if anyone checked in recently with similar wounds to our victim. If your Detectives want to come, they are more than welcome.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn and Gus follow Connor. for kicks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chappie, Sorry!

Shawn was lost. He didn’t like the feeling. It was obvious that the marks from the dead victim hadn’t come from a human, but he couldn’t quite place what weapon made those kinds of deep lacerations. He was listening to Prentiss and JJ discuss the UnSub when someone new came into the precinct, brought in by Rossi, Hotch, Morgan and Reid. Considering how he interacted with Prentiss and JJ, he knew them, they must have met after Shawn had left the BAU though. His clothing was peculiar though. He was familiar with wearing the same thing multiple days in a row, but this looked like he hadn’t changed in years, and it was only that it hadn’t been changed, they were destroyed. Shredded. As if the kid had been living rough and fighting something with teeth. The dirt on his face and length of his hair looked like he hadn’t had a proper groom in years either. He seemed well shaven, mostly, but tan, his skin rough, and scarred. He had shoulder length brown hair and eyes of a chocolate brown puppy dog’s. He seemed a little younger than Shawn, but intensely cheerful yet there was something sharp in his look. Like he had maybe seen a little too much. He knew that look. Lassie had that look. He had trained himself to always be alert for every possible threat. He had a large gun strapped to his back, but it was obvious by the way he was subtly gripping at the air around his body, that he had other weapons on him. 

His accent was from Northern England, at least, Shawn thought so, he wasn’t too familiar with English accents. Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Yorkshire, somewhere up there, possibly. Or it could be cockney. He honestly wasn’t sure. Then again, he hadn’t been exposed to other countries at all except for in the media, and it wasn’t his fault that they rarely put other accents on the BBC that got broadcast to the US.

Shawn considered the man in front of him as he jabbered away to Prentiss and JJ, taking in words like “Got stuck somewhere again huh?” Prentiss asked, smiling. He had been invited over and he thought he heard the Agents call him ‘Connor’ when they saw him. 

The ragged kid sounded flustered as he yammered “You say that like that’s all I ever do! It’s been a good three years… Ok, year and a half, but that was only an afternoon, so it doesn’t count! And Becks was with me! And Abbs, and Finn…” obviously the female agents knew these people that the kid was talking about. As they laughed and JJ gave him a hug

“We know it’s not all you do, Garcia and Reid tell us about their communications with them. Which seem to be on opposite ends of the genius spectrum but both quite fun. So where did you get stuck?” Apparently Garci knew this kid too. She called him a genius, he definitely didn’t look it. But if he got on with Reid and held his own he must be pretty smart. Reid talked like one, he also looked like a librarian or professor. The kid in front of him neither talked nor looked like one. Who was he? Shawn needed to know.

“A few somewheres, and more like somewhen’s ....I just realised it’s been a few years...”

“How long?” Prentiss asked without specifying anything. 

“For me? Or for them?” Connor asked with a mischievous smile. 

“How can it be different?” JJ asked curiously 

“Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey” Shawn recognised the quote and laughed, although it made him wonder how it would have been applicable 

“What’s up Shawn?” Prentiss asked, turning to him. 

“Where did you find this guy?” Shawn asked. “He looks like he has been running from dinosaurs or something.” 

“That’s ridiculous,” JJ said stoutly, 

“I just got back from a survival weekend,” Connor said, trying to sound casual. ”My job takes it very seriously, every few years they send us to different parts of the world to try to survive for a week or two.” 

“You just said survival ‘weekend’” Shawn noted.

“That’s what it’s called.” The newcomer maintained. “But it’s normally about 10 days. They send us out there with nothing more than what we can fit in our pockets.” Then he said something strange. “ Also, remind me, I have to thank Spencer for his book recommendations, they really helped pass the time.”

Reid walked up behind them then. “Thank me for what?” He said with a soft smile. 

“Oh, just saying that your book recommendations got me through my uh,” Connor broke off, giving Shawn a once-over.

“Survival weekend?” JJ supplied. A smile bright enough to light up a room lit the kids face. 

“Yeah, that.” The brit laughed, 

“I thought you didn’t bring any of that stuff with you.” Emily said, the unsaid question in the air. 

Reid looked at Connor for a moment then gave him a smile. “Happy to help.” Connor beamed. “Which was your favourite thing that you read?”

There was a pause, then the brit replied, “Well, Lord of the Rings is always a favourite, but I read that for the first time in grade school. The History of Kings was fun to read as I was you know, history, I don’t know, I read a lot. Had a lot of time to myself.” Reading Lord of the Rings in grade school, Shawn was interested. He obviously did that, but he didn’t know many others who did. And The History of Kings was a book written in the Middle Ages, wasn’t it? 

“Not sure I get it,” Emily said to JJ as Connor and Spencer talked books. 

“I think it’s an eidetic memory thing…” JJ supplied.

“Does Connor have an eidetic memory too?” Emily asked, slightly surprised.

“I’ve never been tested,” Connor looked at the women and smirked at their reactions. “But if what Spencer says about an eidetic memory is true, then, probably.”

“Ever have that IQ test?” Spencer asked.

“184,” the Brit replied, slightly smugly. Smart kid, thought Shawn.

“If I was Morgan, I think I would give you a high five right now, but I don’t like touching in normal circumstances, and I don’t know when the last time you bathed was….” Shawn smirked, that was higher than Reid’s. And Reid had probably recommend him get it. Shawn slurped his Pineapple smoothie thoughtfully, realizing he was almost finished.

“It’s fine, I get it. I wouldn’t want to touch me either.” The not FBI genius gave that smile to the FBI genius again. Shawn gave his smoothie one last loud slurp and tossed his empty cup over the heads of everyone and perfectly into the trash can on the other side of where they were all standing

“3 Points!” Shawn pumped his fist and jumped off the table

“SPENCER!” He heard Lassie call him from across the station. He had his usual scowl firmly in place. Reid looked up as Shawn hopped off the table by the girls and skipped over to him, leaning on his desk. 

“What’s up Lassie?” He said cheerfully.

“You and Guster have not been invited in on this case,” Lassiter growled. “Go bother someone else and leave the FBI alone.” 

“That kid is not FBI.” Shawn pointed at the brit, “He’s British. And we were originally on this case, you can’t kick us off now...” 

Juliet came up to her partner “Go home Shawn, we will call you if we need your visions, ok?”

“FINE!” He called back to the group as he exited the police department, “But I don’t believe for one second that you were on a survival weekend!”

He bounded down the steps and found the parking lot empty. He pulled out his phone and called Gus. “Buddy! I got a case!”

“The kidnapping case? I thought the FBI have that one.” Gus answered immediately

“No, not that one,” Shawn replied, “This new kid who came in, British, my height, walked in like he hadn’t bathed in months, or changed his clothes in years, scars on scars. Tight with the BAU, they are making him out like he is some sort of genius, on Reid’s level. Claimed he was on a survival weekend. I wanna know who he is and what he is doing here.” He heard a sigh.

“Maybe it was a survival weekend Shawn, not everything is a conspiracy theory.”

“You are the conspiracy theorist, Gus, not me, now pick me up so we can tail him!”

“I am working! In case you forgot, I have a route to do, so I can pay for things, like the Psych office, and everything you charge to my card.”

“Don’t be a wet towel Gus,”

“It’s wet blanket Shawn,”

“I’ve heard it both ways. Come on! He’s back in the Chief's office now, I can feel it, they are going somewhere,”

“What if he is just helping on the case?”

“You think the FBI called in help from the Home Office for a case about kidnapped men in Santa Barbara? No, this is something else. Something big.”

“Fine, I’ll be there in five.”

“Tacos for steakout?”

“You know that’s right.”

A bright blue car pulled up a few minutes later and Shawn hopped inside. “Yum,” He turned to his best friend, “Thanks buddy, let’s see what this guy is up to. Gus, park on the street!” Gus rolled his eyes and drove out of the station, parking in some bushes by the street. A minute or so later the dirty man, (he had washed his face and changed his shirt) and Agent Rossi walked out of the building. They stood at similar heights, and it seemed the younger man was explaining something to the older, who was nodding, and asking a few questions, seriously. 

“Is that him?” Gus asked

“Yeah,” Shawn answered, “He changed his shirt, that shirt has been in the lost in found for a week.”

“He looks too skinny.” Gus noted. 

“I knew he was wearing some sort of weapon!” Shawn cried, seeing the knives strapped to the kid’s chest. “He must have been somewhere that he couldn’t get ammo, or electricity for his phone.”

Gus nodded. “Knives would have been a useful weapon that didn’t need energy or resupplying. It looks like some of the pockets are empty, throwing knives?”

“Could be”

“What is he into?”

“That’s what we are going to find out!”

  
“I don’t know Shawn, it seems like it could be dangerous.”

“We have been in plenty of dangerous situations before.” Shawn scoffed. His phone rang. “Lassie!”

“Spencer, I see you and Guster in that ridiculous blue car of yours, don’t even think about following Agent Rossi and Temple, got it?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it Lassie.”

“Shawn, I’m serious,” The black SUV drove away. “Temple’s team is coming all the way from London to handle whatever killed that victim. It is not something to be messing with. It is out of our depth. He wouldn’t even tell us what it is or what it was about.”

“Come on Lassiter, you know that saying it’s dangerous only makes Shawn want to go more…” Gus said into the phone at Shawn’s side.

“Listen you two, keep away, do not follow that SUV, I will know. This is a guarded secret under the Official Secrets Act. Connor Temple is working for the Home Office under the Minister himself. Stay OUT!” 

“You forget Lassie, This isn’t England, and we aren’t British. So the Official Secrets Act doesn’t apply.”

“Even if it doesn’t, I don’t want you going near this thing. Temple mentioned that what is out there is out of our league and incredibly dangerous. So keep away, ok? I overheard Jareau and Hotchner after he left the Chief’s office, apparently last time he dealt with one of these things on his own he nearly died, so please stay out of it, I can’t lose you.”

“Why is he dealing with it alone then? He should have help.”

“I’m serious Shawn, you are not equipped to handle this. It isn’t something your dad trained you for. Let the professionals handle it. His team will be here in a few hours, he is just going to keep whatever is out there from hurting innocent people until they arrive. He isn’t going looking for them. He is just keeping them away from people. If you follow, he will just have two more people to protect.”

“Fine, Lassie. We will stay back.”

“Thank you.” There was a click

“I have never heard Lassie so serious before.” Gus commented lightly. “It’s a good thing you told him we were going to stay away.”

“Don’t be a wet tortilla on a burrito Gus,” Shawn said, looking at him with mischief in his eyes, “Of course we aren’t staying away. I said we would stay BACK, not stay away. There’s a difference.” 

Gus worried his lower lip. “I don’t think this is such a good idea, Shawn. It seems kind of serious. If the Home Office in England is involved…”

“They have no jurisdiction here.” Shawn scoffed, “let’s go, we are losing daylight!” Gus turned the car around in the direction the SUV drove off in, but not before Shawn noted Lassie, Juliet, Morgan, and JJ heading down to cars in the parking lot. He saw Lassie and Jules notice the car then turn to each other, Lassie with an angry look on his face, Jules with a worried one on hers. 

“I think they saw us leaving.” Gus noted. “You might be on the couch tonight.”

“Lassie understands,” Gus raised an eyebrow at him. “Mostly.” Shawn shrugged. Then he said, “What about Jules?”

“Juliet knows I only go along to keep you out of trouble.” He said. “She will be more angry at you than me.”

“GUS LOOK OUT!” Gus slammed on the breaks as two figures shot past, the two meeting in the middle of the road. 

“Is that the kid?” Gus asked they saw the ripped cargo pants and hiking boots Shawn had noted earlier. “What the hell is he fighting?”

“God only knows.” Shawn said, turning slightly green. Black and tan limbs mixed with white and silver flashes of light. There was a strange clicking. An alien-like head with bright red eyes turned slowly to look at them. It shot towards the car, but before either of them could react it was pulled back by the ankle. Red joined the other colours. A vibrant red splattered itself on the deep black body and it fell on the asphalt. The young man, Connor, stalked over to them, panting slightly. They could see a small gash on his face, blood soaking his shirt from an unseen cut on his abdomen, a large and deep laceration on one of his forearms, and fresh blood on his pants. He wiped the blood off his knives using his trousers and slotted them back into the harness on his chest. He used the back of his hand to clear a trickle of blood from his forehead as he knocked on the window. 

“Get out of here, yeah? It’s not safe.” He noticed Shawn, and his eyes darkened 

“Shawn Spencer from the station,” He was looking straight at Shawn. “I would have thought your superiors would have told you to keep away.”

“We don’t really have ‘superiors’” Shawn said lightly, “We are consultants.”

“Doesn’t matter,” The Brit said curtly, “My team will be here shortly to help clear this up. You need to stay away.”

“What is that thing?” Shawn asked, disregarding what the kid said. “Who are you? And who is your team?”

“Connor Temple,” Connor went to hold out his hand then noticed his was covered in blood. “Ah, yeah.” He put it back down to his side. “My team and this thing are confidential. Sorry. Now leave.” He turned and took the creature by the ankle and walked back into the trees leaving a bloody trail behind him. 

Shawn thought for a moment as he unwrapped and munched on his taco. Whatever he was doing was definitely out of their depth. An SUV passed going in the other direction. The window rolled down. It was Agent Rossi. 

“I thought we said to stay out of it Shawn.” Rossi said with a look. 

“Connor just said that too.” Shawn said with a grimace. “After he killed something that nearly attacked us.” 

“And wouldn’t tell us what it was” Gus huffed.

“Sorry, can’t help you there, not my department.” Rossi said lightly. “All I can say is you need to leave this one alone.” He rolled up the window and drove off. 

“Why does no one realise that saying that just makes me want to investigate further?” Shawn asked Gus incredulously.

“Still, I think we should heed their advice.” Gus put in. “That thing looked freaky. I think I am going to have nightmares about that for a month. If that isn’t the only one out here, then please, let’s go…”

Shawn rolled his eyes and nodded with reluctance. “Drop me off at the office. I left my bike there.” 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shawn meets the ARC team
> 
> Connor learns something interesting about cell phones and the Anomaly locker

Connor was furious. What was wrong with that idiot Shawn Spencer? Psychic, please. He could see the man’s eyes as they carefully studied him before and the Predator he had been fighting just now. He was no Psychic, he was a nosy imbecile who happened to have an affinity for recall and an ability to read people. That isn’t supernatural. He knew supernatural. He lived supernatural. Ok, not really supernatural. More scientific improbability. There wasn’t anything supernatural about the Anomalies, no matter what anyone would like to believe. Improbable, yes, unlikely, yes, unpredictable, sometimes. Supernatural, absolutely not. If they were, he would never have been able to make one. He stood in front of the locked anomaly both proud and ashamed at that accomplishment, remembering the near death it caused Jess, how Philip had nearly imploded the lab and killed them all, and the disaster that Philips New Dawn had nearly caused. All due to his “achievement”. No, it wasn’t supernatural, but it wasn’t something that scientists should really mess with either. How stupid he had been then. 

He had arrived at the Anomaly site ten minutes earlier to find the device’s lock slipping. He ran to it at once and was just finishing resetting the parameters when another Predator slipped through before it was firmly locked once more. Connor had sped after it at once. He knew Predators would go high if they could, so he climbed the closest tree he could find and channeled his inner monkey, something he learned to do while he was in the Devonian era. He lept from tree to tree swiftly, overtaking the Predator who was not used to actual trees, there not being trees in the Future. He landed lightly on the ground, neck and neck with it as it ran into the road. Barely noticing the brilliantly blue hatchback they had stopped in front of he slammed it into the road. It turned and attacked back, claws flying. He pulled out his knives and started to attack, using his arm to defend himself against a particularly brutal slash across his chest which only managed to reach his stomach and open a gash in his forearm. He kicked out at the thing and it suddenly seemed to notice the two scared people in the car. It flew at them, Connor quickly grabbed its foot and hauled it back through the air, slamming it back down on the ground. He felt a claw on his face and something wet drip down his brow. The slam seemed to stun the Predator, he flung a knife into the middle of its throat and its tense body relaxed almost instantly. After retrieving the knife, Connor wiped his blades on his dirty trousers and slid them back into their sheaths. 

He walked over to the car and knocked on the window. It rolled down and he saw a dark skinned young man driving. “Get out of here, yeah? It’s not safe.” Connor said, distracted. He recognised the man they called Spencer from the station. He glowered. 

“Shawn Spencer from the station,” He looked straight at Shawn. “I would have thought your superiors would have told you to keep away.”

“We don’t really have ‘superiors’” Shawn said lightly, “We are consultants.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Connor said shortly, “My team will be here shortly to help clear this up. You need to stay away.”

“What is that thing?” Shawn asked, Connor sighed, the man in front of him didn’t seem to be paying attention to what he was saying. “Who are you? And who is your team?”

“Connor Temple,” Connor decided to introduce himself. He went to hold out his hand then noticed his was covered in blood. “Ah, yeah.” He put it back down to his side, slightly embarrassed. “My team and this thing are confidential. Sorry. Now leave.” He turned swiftly and walked back into the woods, picking up the leg of the Predator and dragging it with him. He dragged it to an area that was unseen from the road, behind a mound of rocks. Took a picture of the spot, then went back to the Anomaly, found a nice tree nearby with a clear vantage point for climbing, and await his team. 

* * *

Gus made Shawn promise him that he would go home once he dropped him off at the office, and Shawn had every intention of doing so, after a quick detour. Something about the british addition didn’t quite add up. How did he get there? What was that thing he killed? How had he gotten so dirty? Where did he come from? He needed answers. Not to mention his relationship with the mysterious FBI unit the BAU was just as curious. How did they know each other? Had they worked together before? What did Lassie mean when he said that the man almost died? So many unanswered questions. He wasn’t used to not being able to get a read on people immediately. Not to mention, he had a feeling from the gaze Connor Temple had given him earlier the Brit had given him the same once over analysis he normally gave others. Which unnerved him. He was good at masking who he really was, but he had a feeling that this Connor guy was equally good, and he had already heard that he was intelligent. 

He had heard of an eidetic memory before, he thought it similar to his own perfect recall, but he had never met anyone else with that ability. Yet, here were two others who knew each other and he met them both in one day. If he believed in that crap, he may have believed it was fate. But that was, as his father would so eloquently put it, a load of horse-shit. Shawn put his helmet on and hopped on his bike, turning back towards the deserted part of town where they had just come from. Then he paused. If there were dangerous animals out there, he should have some sort of weapon. He would be even more of a complete idiot to go out there without some sort of protection or way to defend himself. Maybe he should go home and ‘borrow’ one of Lassie’s spare guns that he leaves around the house. With that thought in mind, he made a left turn down a street and started toward the apartment he shared with Lassiter. 

“Carly?” He called when he entered the home. There was no reply. He listened for the sound of a shower or rustling in the bedroom. “Carlton?” He called again, a little louder this time. Satisfied that there was no one else home, he went swiftly to the kitchen and pulled the gun from the breadbox. He checked the magazine for bullets, and slid the barrel to load a bullet into the chamber. After making sure the safety was locked securely in place, he slipped the gun into the waistband of his shorts, pulling his shirt back down over it. Making his way to the pistachio bowl, he revealed a second gun, and did the same checks, slipping this one into one of the pockets in his cargo shorts. He left his flip flops by the door, and switched into sneakers, scribbled a note to Carlton in case he came home first, and ran out the door. 

The gun in his waistband felt weird as he motored down the deserted street in the late afternoon sun. Trees whipped past him as he returned to the location where they encountered the deadly tussle with the black skinned creature. Deciding he should stay a little farther away, he turned around and backtracked about 20 feet before turning into the woods the same way he saw the mysterious brit go. He motored slowly through the trees until something in his gut told him that on foot would be better. He crept forward silently, not exactly sure what he was looking for. 

After about 10 minutes he saw something gold and shimmering in the distance. As he moved towards it he was able to make out a tight sphere of light made up of what looked like mirror fragments. On the ground next to it was a small laptop and a metal wand-like thing that was connected to it. The front of the wand was large and round and covered in LEDs. As soon as he found a bush to hide in, where he was in full view of the shining object and could not be seen by anyone around, he settled in to wait for something to happen. 

* * *

Connor was sitting in his tree putting stitches in his side and arm when it grew too dark to see. He grumbled and put the needle and thread back in the box, which he returned to his pocket. He was laying on his stomach, carefully avoiding the scratch, when his team arrived a few hours later. 

Matt Anderson, Emily Merchant, Captain Hillary Becker, Abby Maitland, Lance Finnegan (Finn for short), and a few other SFs, stepped purposefully into the light cast off from the Anomaly and quickly started setting up a few work lights. Becker looked immediately into the tree where Connor was hiding and winked at him. “Joining us Conn?” He asked with a smile. Connor flashed him a grin and immediately threw his body off the branch, so he was only holding on by his arms. A minute later he landed on all fours like a cat and hopped up, running to greet them, meeting Becker with a big hug. 

“Hi, Hil! Abbs, Matt, Em, Finn, Jordan, Blade, Ditzy.” He hugged Abby and Emily, but merely nodded and shook hands with the other men. 

“We heard the situation,” Matt said, “Predators huh?”

“Is that how you got that?” Ditzy asked, pointing at his arm, which was partially and clumsily stitched up. 

“Yeah, a few hours ago there was one I ran into in the middle of the street. Right in front of a car.” Connor shrugged. “It wasn’t super friendly.” Ditzy pulled out his med bag and sat Connor down, inviting him wordlessly to take off his shirt. 

“Jesus, Conn,” Becker said, seeing the scars that covered his boyfriend’s body. “I don’t remember most of these.”

“It’s been an interesting few years,” Connor grinned up at him, “Ended up in the devonian era at one point, Cutter would have loved that.” His smile turned slightly sad. “Not super friendly creatures though.” 

“You were only gone a week.” Finn said, confused

“Anomaly time and our time don’t always have to match up,” Abby tried to explain to him. “He may have been gone for a week for us, but to him he was gone -”

“Two years, two months and five days,” Connor piped up as Ditzy cleaned his arm around the wound. 

“No wonder you are so filthy…” Ditzy noted

“When was the last time you were in a time with water?” Blade asked, curious

Connor paused for a moment, everyone in the ARC recognised his thinking face. “One month and 10 days ago was when the anomaly to the Future opened.” He replied “Before that I was in the Cretaceous,” he looked at Abby who looked morose. “Early Cretaceous, still lots of big beasties, but there was plenty of water.” 

“How many Eras did you hop through?” Emily asked, genuinely curious. 

“Including the Jurassic? 5,” He answered without hesitation. “Each era presented new challenges, and new discoveries. Although,” He pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, “I have so many notes to put into the database.” He showed it to Matt, who put the gun he was carrying on his back and flipped through it. It was completely full of notes, every page with a drawing, labels, behavioral notes, as many as could be squeezed into the page. From cover to cover, it was packed. “Unfortunately, I ran out of room sometime in my first year, I started having to find alternatives. Double up, write smaller, you know. Even then it wasn’t long until there was no more room for anything.”

“I’m impressed.” Matt tried to read the notes, “Or, I would be if I could read what you wrote. I am assuming you can.” Connor just grinned at him

“There is a dead Predator behind some rocks over there, and Hotch said he and Rossi killed another one earlier, but I don’t know where it is.” Connor pointed towards the road. 

“How many do you anticipate there being?” Becker asked

“Not sure, I saw at least three slip through on my way to the anomaly, but it took a good minute and a half before I was even in sight of it, so I really don’t know. Could be only two left over here, could be a dozen. Oh, the one I killed earlier wasn’t from the original ones that slipped through. When I got back here earlier the locking mechanism was slipping, and one just managed to slip through before I recalibrated it and locked it more securely.” 

“Good to know.” Matt looked at the group, “We will need one person to stay here and keep watch on the Anomaly, Connor, let’s have you do that, you are still injured. Ditzy, when you are done redressing his wounds, you will join us.” The medic looked up from the stitches he was putting in Connor’s forearm and nodded. “Abby, any word on behavioral patterns of Predators?”

Abby crossed her arms and put her chin in a hand, thinking. “We are talking about more advanced versions of the bat. They locate us through echolocation, which is why we brought smaller versions of the echolocators that Connor made. We should not go after these things alone, they are deadly, ruthless, and don’t seem to have much of a purpose beyond killing. Besides nurturing their young, there is no trace of animal instinct in them.”

“They frequently move in groups, but it’s not uncommon to see them alone or in a pair.” Connor put in. “They are fast, but bullets are still faster. A throwing knife is about equally fast. Since they are from the future, we have no chance of messing up the timeline by killing them.” Connor looked at Abby, who nodded. The SF’s looked relieved and ditched their EMD’s pulling out their larger weapons. 

“What should we do with bodies once we kill them?” Emily asked Matt who looked thoughtful. 

“If the anomaly is still open, let’s see if we can toss them back through.” he replied, “If not, we burn them.” 

“I am hesitant to open the anomaly, even just to toss the bodies back through,” Connor told the team leader. “Predators are drawn to the light of the anomaly, they are probably waiting for it to open right now. We could have a larger problem if we open it again.”

Matt thought about this for a moment “I see your point. Ok, we will gather up the bodies and burn them.”

“Like Eomer and the Riders of Rohan did when they defeated the group of Uruk Hai that were holding Merry and Pippin in the Two Towers!” Connor said excitedly. Becker laughed loudly and Abby chuckled. Matt looked confused. “They gathered up all the Uruk Hai into a mound, and then they lit them on fire!” Connor explained. Then paused and looked at Emily and Matt. “Are you guys ever going to catch up with the pop culture from this century yet? It’s been 5 years, if you are going to stay in this Era, you may as well embrace it.”

“Thankful to have your memory while you were all alone there, Connor?” Abby asked. 

“You know it! Best use of eidetic memory ever. I just reread my favourite books and rewatched my favourite movies and tv shows for two years.” Connor grinned at her. 

“You have an eidetic memory?” Becker asked, curious. “How did I not know this?” 

“Never came up.” Connor shrugged, he hissed with pain as Ditzy moved to work on the stitches on his abdomen. “Not something I typically brag about, how else do you think I can remember the exact number of hours and minutes I was away? It’s one of the things Spencer and I talk about, also one of the reasons it’s easy for me to learn so many languages. As you asked before.”

“Connor, when did you get this one?” Ditzy pointed to the cut partially hidden by the waistband of his pants. Becker’s eyes flicked to it at once. 

“I had a run in with some friends a few days ago.” Connor said nonchalantly. 

“Connor…” Becker growled

“Fine, 2 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes ago. Happy? I was running away and I fell into some scrap, got some scratches and a bump on the head. Nothing serious.” Ditzy rolled his eyes at Becker and opened his belt so he could cut open the stitches to take a look. 

“This needs cleaning, there is rust and residue inside.” He said with concern.

“Well, unfortunately I had limited water resources.” Connor replied. “As in, I ran out yesterday. Speaking of, I’m parched, and starving, anyone have food or water? Or both?” Ditzy looked at him closely. 

“Future rough on resources?” He asked the tech. 

“That’s putting it mildly,” Connor huffed, “I’m just glad I thought ahead. Brought some dried dino over. It lasted a while.”

Becker opened his pack and pulled out a one litre bottle of water and a granola bar, handing them both to his boyfriend. 

“Thanks, Hil.” Connor grabbed Becker by the front of the shirt and pulled him close, “I’d kiss you right now but it’s been a while since I’ve taken a shower, or brushed my teeth.” He put his forehead against the Captain’s in a sign of intimacy and they held that position for a moment, until Connor yelped in surprise as Ditzy poured water on the cut on his pelvis. 

“You guys stay here,” Matt said, “Ditzy take care of Connor, the rest of us, let’s hunt us some Predators. Jordan, you come with Emily and me, Blade, you are with Abby, Becker, and Finn.” He tossed an Echolocator to Becker, and another to the ground by Connor. He also tossed a black box and radio to Connor. “Stay on coms, Connor, check in with Jess.” The seven of them disappeared into the trees, separating into their designated teams. 

Connor slipped in his head piece and turned on his blackbox. “Connor!” He heard instantly. 

“Hi, Jess,” 

“I just saw you turn on your black box, figured you would have your com in.” Connor’s laugh turned into another his of pain as Ditzy started sterilizing the wound. “You ok?”

“Yeah, Ditzy didn’t like my patch job, so he started over,”

“If by starting over you mean opening up the massive laceration and getting all the rust and other debris out of it, then yes, I am.” the medic said calmly. “It’s going to start bleeding again, can you hold this gauze for me?” Ditzy looked into the trees and called, “If you are going to sit there and watch, you might as well help.” Connor looked at Ditzy, then over where he was looking, and saw Shawn Spencer walk out from behind some bushes and over to them. 

“Your team?” He asked Connor.

“I assume you have been watching a while, Yes, that was my team, Team leader Matt, Emily, Abby and Captain Becker and his Special Forces,” Connor motioned to Ditzy, “Field medic Sanderson (also goes by Ditzy), Second in Command Finnegan (or Finn), Jordan, and Tomson or Blade. There are more back at the ARC.” He winced again. Ditzy shoved more gauze into Shawn’s hands.

“Help, will you? I still need to clean this, or the infection will be worse than it already is.” Ditzy said, as Shawn kneeled down

“There is no infection, what are you talking about?” Scoffed Connor.

“Wanna bet?” Ditzy replied, “You have been in fight or flight mode for how long? You are running on pure adrenaline, you may have pushed through any symptoms of infection, but they are still there. As soon as you let yourself relax, the infection will hit full force. And if we can minimise that now, the better. God knows how many infections you have picked up while you were gone.”

Connor grumbled but didn’t argue. He turned to Shawn, “I thought I told you to leave, it’s dangerous and classified.” 

Shawn shrugged. “You say I can’t do something and it just makes me want to do it more. Besides, I wanted to see what that thing was that you were fighting before.”

“I need my supervisor’s permission to talk to you about it.” Connor thought for a moment. “Hang on, Jess?” 

“What’s up Connor?” Jess said from her terminal at the ADD in London

“Is Lester there?” 

“Sure,”

“Connor,” Lester’s voice joined Jess’s over the Comms.   
  
“Jess, please privatize this line for a moment.” Connor asked. He heard a few keys being pushed.

“Done”

“Thanks, the entire team doesn’t need to hear this,” He said, ruefully. 

“What’s going on Connor?” Lester said seriously

“Someone from the SBPD, a consultant, Shawn Spencer,-”

“Psychic Consultant,” Shawn interjected, Connor rolled his eyes,

“Self proclaimed psychic consultant, followed me to the anomaly site. He also saw me fight and kill a Predator, - Ditzy, that hurts!” He turned his attention to the medic who had just picked a large piece of debris out of his wound.

“Gauze,” Ditzy said, exchanging the blood soaked gauze Connor was holding for a fresh piece. “Hold this,” He shoved a small bowl into Shawn’s free hand. He continued picking pieces of debris out of the wound, and dropped them into the bowl. Shawn scrunched his nose up at it. “Connor, you need to be more careful.” 

“I will try to remember that next time I am running for my life in the Future. Don’t fall into the pile of rusty metal, fall into the pile of soft pillows instead.” Connor said sarcastically 

Shawn laughed, not quite sure if the injured man was serious or not. 

“Connor, you said this Shawn Spencer saw the locked anomaly and a predator right?” Lester asked through the comm. 

“Yes, it nearly attacked the car he and his friend were in, but I caught it and pulled it back before it could reach them.”

“Anderson has copies of the OSA that we use for foreigners. The same contract we had the BAU sign. He will need to sign that. Is there any sign of weakening?” 

Connor opened his compass to check magnetic activity. It was still strong. “Nope, not sure how long this one is going to stick around. It’s in the open, so it will be difficult to conceal from the public. But it’s on a deserted part of the beach, and we haven’t had any issues yet.”

“You probably will come morning.” Shawn said, “This beach is a popular running trail for athletes. You should put up a tent or something.”

Connor turned to Ditzy, “Did we bring any tents that could cover that?” Ditzy shook his head. 

“I don’t think we have any.”

“We should do something about that…” Connor said under his breath

“The SBPD has some tents that could work.” Shawn said cheerfully. 

“How much do they know?” Connor asked. “Lester, how much did you have Hotch tell the detectives and Chief?” 

“They are signing the act too, but only Vick, O’Hara, and Lassiter.” Lester said ruefully. “Far too many people know about this…” 

“I have a question,” Shawn asked, “My friend, in the car, what can he know?” 

“Did you hear the question?” Connor asked into his comm. 

“The friend also saw the Predator, but hasn’t seen the Anomaly, right?” Lester asked. Connor answered in the affirmative. 

“I can’t keep secrets from him, it’s impossible.” Shawn admitted. “If I know, he will know too.”

“Fine,” Lester said with disapproval. “But no one else.” 

“Lester said you and your friend can know, but you have to sign the Official Secrets Act. We had one specially drafted for foreigners.” Connor told Shawn. “Detectives O’Hara and Lassiter and Chief Vick will also sign the act.” Shawn grinned, excited. “Thanks Lester, that’s what I needed to know, Jess, you can open the line up again.” he heard a click, then he removed his ear piece. 

“So, what is this almighty secret?” Shawn asked, delighted.

* * *

It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be real. How could that be true? Seriously. The Future? Behind that small ball of light?

“It’s locked right now, normally it would be bigger, but then Predators would be able to come through, and that is something we definitely don’t want.” Connor said with a bit of a laugh. 

“And that thing you killed earlier, that was a Predator?” Shawn asked. “From the Future?” Both Connor and Ditzy nodded. Ditzy was still cleaning out Connor’s wound. “I thought the future was supposed to be shiny and fun. When in the future is this capital F Future that you were in?”

“No one really knows, but clues suggest it’s not too far in the future. And no, it is anything but shiny and fun. It is deserted, dusty, and empty.” Connor said remembering the water next to him and taking a long pull. “No one is there, there is no food, no water, no nothing. Just creatures out of a nightmare. And abandoned buildings. And cars.” 

“How did you survive?” Shawn asked, slightly awed. 

“Found a building that had a lot of residual electrical parts and barricaded myself in.” Connor said with a smile, “Brought a bunch of dried dino from the Cretaceus, and basically just tried to make it last as long as possible. I knew it could be months until the next anomaly popped up, so I waited. I rigged up a way to create electricity, I’m pretty handy with that sort of stuff, charged my EMD battery, and my hand held ADD, because now that I had the ability, I should, I had no idea where the next anomaly would send me, or when it would appear, and I made sure I was ready at a moment’s notice. Although, over the past two years, that has basically been my stand-by.”

“Like I said,” The man called Ditzy said, “Fight or flight response. Do you think it’s good for you to always be alert like that?”

“Is that what you meant when you told Dr Reid that you enjoyed his book recommendations?” Shawn asked. “That they got you through being away?” 

“An eidetic memory can be useful like that. Just replaying books in your head while you do stuff. It’s good fun. Kept me from getting too lonely and naming a club.” He and Ditzy shared a look and laughed. Must have been an inside joke that they were talking about. 

“So you really were in the past?” Shawn asked. “For two years? I thought you said you were on a survival weekend.”

“Well,” Connor remarked with a smirk, “It kinda was. Just a lot of weekends, and it wasn’t intentional. But all I had going in was what I had on me.” he gestured at his clothing. “Lucky for me, since the last time I got trapped, I made sure to keep some necessities on me at all time.” 

Shawn’s eyebrows raised in surprise. Both in the fact that this wasn’t the first time he had been trapped, and that he had been preparing. Connor didn’t seem like the type to prepare for anything. 

“I have a few non-disposable items that are fairly small, and make any era easier to deal with. Of course, knives, bullets don’t last, with a knife, you can sharpen it, and use it again, as many times as you want. It’s versatile and can be used for carving and creating, as well as killing and protecting yourself. Flint and steel, the actual wood and fire materials are easily collectable, but this makes starting a fire much easier and faster. Anomaly detector, I increased the range and lengthened the battery life. I also added a feature that is for when you can’t get to a charging station for long periods of time or are stuck in a different time. All the extra features are off, it basically is sleeping except for when it finds an anomaly.” Connor looked at Shawn’s raised eyebrows and smirked. “What? I don’t look like the preparing or outdoorsy type right? That’s what I thought too at first. The outdoorsy thing. When this ARC project started I never imagined I would be able to fight off a pack of Predators unscathed.” Ditzy prodded his wound particularly hard “Oww!”

“Unscathed, huh?” The medic smirked at him. 

“That doesn’t count, that was me being a klutz, I don’t think I will ever get over that. No matter how many training sessions with Action Man I have.” 

“You know he hates when you call him that,” 

“I know.” Connor grinned cheekily, “and he doesn’t hate it. He really likes it. You know, when I call him that. Alone. After work. Without clo-“ 

“I get it Connor!” Ditzy said, blushing scarlet as Sawn doubled up with laughter. “You really don’t need to discuss your bedroom habits to me.” 

“But you’re our medic! You’ve done everyone’s medical. It’s your job to know everything about us” Connor winked as the blush on Ditzy’s face spread to his ears and down his neck. Shawn was practically rolling on the floor with guffaws of laughter. 

Suddenly the song “Supercop” started playing very loudly, making everyone jump. Ditzy and Connor glared at Shawn who fumbled his ringing phone out of his pocket.

“Hi, Lassikins!” Shawn greeted warmly. “What? You found him? That was fast. Wait. What about a partner? They think this guy just dropped off the bodies? Scratches were a secondary cause of death, are you sure? Weird. Ok, let me get back to you.” He turned to Connor, “would one of these predators attack someone who was already dead or dying?”

“Not attack anyone dead, possibly dying. They see noise and that is how they find where they are going. They make a noise to find their way around. Their hearing is incredibly advanced so they can hear a heartbeat half a mile - watch out!” A silver streak flew past Shawn’s head and he heard a squish and a heavy thud right behind him. He turned to see a humanoid creature, roughly his size with large red insect-like eyes jet black skin, and long white claws on the ground with a knife embedded in its skull, with an arm stretched as if reaching for him, and within inches of tearing him to pieces. “They are also stupid fast.” Connor continued as if he didn’t just throw a knife and hit creature from future right between the eyes. “Can you get me my knife? I am running out.” Shawn looked at the man who had just saved his life so nonchalantly, and nodded. 

“Nice throw Conn,” Ditzy said in an offhand tone. “I see all that physical therapy with Becker really paid off.” Connor grinned again. 

“Uh, Thanks.” Shawn said, still a little shell shocked. 

“Shawn, Shawn!” a voice on the phone sounded both angry and scared. “What happened?”

“Oh,” Shawn brought the phone back up to his ear, remembering the detective was on the line. “Sorry, I’m fine, Connor saved my life,”

“You followed him, didn’t you?” Lassiter asked with a sigh. “After I explicitly told you not to!”

“I didn’t bring Gus this time, and I didn’t come empty handed!” Shawn defended, “I have Toasty and Aww, Nuts, with me!” There was a pause on the other end of the line. 

“How many times have I told you to stop naming my guns?” 

“Shawn, you need to get off the phone now…” Connor said with trepidation, he nudged Ditzy and pointed at the Anomaly. The locking mechanism seemed to be slipping. It seemed like Shawn didn’t hear him

“It’s not my fault, the spirits weren’t talking, I needed to know what was going on!” 

“Shawn! Hang up!” Ditzy yelled as Connor leapt up, grabbed the gun from Ditzy’s side holster and ran to the locking mechanism. “Connor!” Ditzy tossed him the bit of string that was holding his pants up earlier. The tech grinned and quickly slipped it through two loops and tied it tight, 

Shawn looked up at the two brits who were both pointing guns, safety’s off, at the glowing light, and at Ditzy’s normally relaxed face which was now hard and focused. Shawn gulped and hung up while Lassiter was asking what the hell was happening. He pulled out Toasty from the waistband of his pants and stood next to Ditzy, flicking the safety off with purpose. He saw Connor typing furiously with one hand as the light pulsed from a small tight sphere to a large glowing light. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Connor muttered as the anomaly stayed set in it’s open state. 

“Connor, why is it open?” Ditzy asked with fear,

“Something is interfering with the electromagnetic wavelength,” he said, looking from the anomaly to the computer and back, quickly. Suddenly Ditzy started firing, Connor not long after. “Go for the eyes!” Connor yelled over the roars of the gunfire. 

“We need all units back at the anomaly site immediately, the anomaly is open, I repeat, the locking mechanism has failed, Predators are coming through!” Ditzy was on his comm communicating with the rest of the team. Shawn doubted he really needed to, the gunfire seemed to be enough of a call for backup. Giant winged creatures were flying through now. 

“Shit, not them!” Connor said with distaste. Shawn had difficulty following what happened next. One minute Connor was there, the next he was across the clearing with a knife in the thorax of a giant bug having brought it down from midair. A locked pistol was tossed gently back to land in front of the medic with the barrel facing the anomaly, a moment later, and both he and Shawn had to stop shooting. Connor was in the middle of the fray of creatures emerging from the Anomaly, taking them down two by two, with nothing but the knives in his hands, each strike dealing a deadly blow. 

Not long after the radio call, a group of four emerged panting from the woods from the right, a minute or two later, a group of three emerged from the left. “What’s Connor doing?” the short girl with platinum blond hair asked nervously. 

“Connor!” called the man next to her, “We are here now, get out of there!” 

“Don’t!” Shawn said seriously, “Pull his focus and you will kill him!”

“The american is right,” A large man from the other group said, walking over to the locking mechanism, “The best we can do is try to fix this and lock it once more.” 

“But Connor is the only one who knows how they work!” The shorter girl cried, “He built it!”

Shawn raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m from the future, remember? These were ancient in my time.” the man replied, his accent sounded irish. Shawn looked at Ditzy. Future? He mouthed the medic just nodded and shrugged as if it was no big deal. Shawn pointed at the anomaly that was supposedly to the Future. Ditzy shook his head. Different Future, he mouthed back. 

The irishman from the future knelt by the keyboard and typed on it for a while. 

“He said something was interfering with the electromagnetic wavelength.” Shawn piped up. 

“He’s right,” The man furrowed his brow. “Becker, did we bring another locker?”

“I think so,” replied the man who spoke before. The girl next to him ran to get it. She opened a metal case the size of a briefcase, burnished bright silver, and opened it, laying out the contents. They were identical to what was already out. Matt ran over to that one and input a series of numbers and algorithms Shawn couldn’t make out. Finally, the anomaly locked again. 

Connor stood high atop a pile of bodies panting hard. “Thanks Matt!” He said to the man who had locked the anomaly. “Don’t know how much longer I could have done that.” he gingerly climbed down from where he was standing, and Shawn noticed for the first time that there were more that one bug in the mess of black limbs. 

“You couldn’t have let us help, huh?” the large man asked, ruffling Connor’s hair. 

Connor grinned. “Sorry Becks, I saw one of those arthropods, and we know how much of a pain they are, and I learned a long time ago that a direct knife to the thorax is the only thing that can kill them. And it’s better done when they are in the air, if you are able to catch them in the air and drive them into the ground, the momentum kills them instantly. Anyway, after I took care of that one, I was stuck in the center of everything.” He turned to Shawn, “So, cell phones are a no go with the locking mechanism for this anomaly. They use a wavelength that is too similar to the one we need. We will stick with radios. Sorry, Shawn.” 

“I will keep it in mind.” Shawn said easily.

“Oh, I should introduce you to my team,” Connor remembered suddenly. “This is the team leader, Matt Anderson, over there is Emily Merchant, here is behavioral specialist Abby Maitland. Captain Becker is in charge of the Special forces. You know the field medic, Sanderson, or Ditzy, over there is Jordan, this is Finn, and that is Blade. Sorry, Tomson. Blade is a nickname because he normally carries so many blades on his person.” Connor grinned at the operative. 

“I think you have more than me now, Conn,” The man said easily. 

“But I’m technical and backup, remember?” Connor winked and everyone laughed. 

“Backup my arse, if you were backup I wouldn’t have to patch you up so much. Connor, Sit!” Ditzy dragged him back to the ground. “You opened your stitches, and” He looked around the man, “Got more injuries…” He saw a small scratch on his shoulder blade and a long deep cut from the mid of Connor’s back to his hip. 

“Considering how many Predators I just took on, I think that is pretty good, don’t you?” Connor said defensively. “That reminds me, what did you guys find?”

“We found two,” Matt said, “But we think there might be more.”

“We tracked four, and killed three,” Becker supplied. “We haven’t actually seen the fourth yet, but we know it’s there. So yeah, we think there are more too.”

“Is there a way to scour the whole forest for them?” Abby asked Connor.

“Did anyone bring my computer with them?” Abby nodded, “If I could get to a place with a reliable internet connection, probably. I just need to hack into whatever satellite is closest and create a body heat locator. Since Predators run at a different heat than humans, it should be relatively easy to pick them out. Garcia may be able to help.” He yawned. “Can we continue this hunt tomorrow? I’m exhausted.”

“We will rotate out,” Matt said, “I don’t want to leave the forest unattended and let a civilian get hurt. So we will split into two shifts for twelve hours, in our groups we will then be able to split up. Tonight, Emily, Jordan, Blade, and I will take the first shift. You 5, go get some rest, be back here in 9 hours.” he looked at his watch. “It’s 23 right now, so come back by 8 sharp.” 

“Yes, Sir, Future man,” Connor gave a salute. Matt rolled his eyes. “Shawn, you don’t need to return,” He said to the psychic as Ditzy put a temporary bandage over his wounds and Becker helped him up.

Shawn shrugged and turned towards his bike. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, we shall see.”

“That was a polite way of saying, fuck off,” Abby said with a frown. Shawn grinned at her over his shoulder. 

“I’m aware,” He said lightly. Shawn walked until he found his bike, put on his helmet, and sped back down the street until he returned to Lassiter’s apartment. He saw the car in the drive and the lights on and cringed at the welcome he was going to get from the detective. 

“Carlton?” He said as he walked through the door. 

“Shawn!” The psychic was instantly wrapped in a large hug from the head detective. “Don’t do that! You scared me to death! Don’t just hang up on me.”

“Aww, Carly,” Shawn cooed, “You do care!” Carlton pushed him up against the wall, one knee in between Shawn’s, trapping him there. 

“You still doubt me?” Carlton asked, a slightly hurt look in his eyes. 

“Of course I don’t silly!” Shawn tried to arrogantly shrug off the question, but uncertainty made hazel eyes unable to meet blue directly. Soft lips met his, and he felt a warmth creeping up his abdomen. His eyes closed, feeling the sensation of the kiss as it deepened, his head tilting to welcome the flood of emotion. A tongue flicked against his lips, begging for entrance, which he gave, a warm familiar taste of gunpowder lingering in his nose. His hips ground against the knee between them and arms pulled him in tight to a lean muscular frame. He wrapped his arms around the neck of his lover, one hand finding its way into his hair, the other gripping the back of the strong neck. He let out a moan in sensation and bucked his hips against the taller man’s. 

“Shawn,” Carlton murmured quietly into Shawn’s ear, as he gave the man kisses along his neck, “Are you going to tell me what happened tonight?”

“Cell phone,” He gasped, wrapping his legs around Carlton’s waist, silently begging for more. “Interference.” 

“Something interfered with the cellphone?” Shawn shook his head. “The cell phone interfered with something else?” the psychic nodded, mewing under the detective’s ministrations, the callused hands had released his aching cock now and was petting it gently. Shawn squirmed at the sensation, the soft touches not nearly enough for him. 

“Anomaly locker fritzed,” Shawn moaned, and Carlton froze. He had been informed of what the Anomalies were that day. More importantly, where the anomaly in Santa Barbara went to, and the creatures that came from it. Agent Hotchner didn’t seem to know too much about them, he said it wasn’t his area, he just said that they were a rip in time and that this one seemed to go to a future where there were really vicious creatures, called Predators, lived. He also said that they had locked it so nothing could come through, but that Connor was certain there were some around already. From his brief encounter with Connor Temple that morning, the kid reminded him a bit of Shawn. A little all over the place. But surprisingly competent when he talked to the chief. From what Agent Morgan had said, they met previously when the brit had stepped out of an anomaly, said anomaly swallowing their Unsub. Connor had saved them from some nasty dinosaurs, while nearly getting himself killed in the process. They trusted him and he was smart. Built a makeshift anomaly locker out of junkyard trash in ten minutes, which held until his teammates were able to bring him one of the ones from his lab. 

Agent Jareau had told O’Hara later that it wasn’t the first time Connor had gotten stuck in time. Which explained how he looked. This time he apparently got stuck for two years, hopping from time period to time period whenever he found an anomaly. Carlton’s mind raced. The anomaly opened again? He started scanning Shawn’s body for injuries. He looked ok. Shawn looked at him and smiled “I’m fine. Carly,” he said, giving Carlton a chaste kiss, and getting down, buttoning his shorts again as he went. “Connor ended up in the middle of them, killing them as they emerged, as one of his teammates grabbed another locking device and together, the two are holding it in place.” He took off his shoes and went into the kitchen, removing the guns from his pockets and placing them on the counter. “Apparently the electromagnetic frequency they use to lock the anomalies here is on a similar frequency to cell phones, so we have to be careful. That’s all. They always use radios instead. Apparently they run on a completely different wavelength, so it’s not an issue.” 

Carlton took the guns that were placed on the counter and held them, noticing one was a little lighter “This is 6 bullets lighter than its supposed to be,” he ejected the magazine and examined it. “You fired this!” He accused 

“Well, yeah!” Shawn said defensively. “Those creatures were coming out of a rip in time. Of course I did. They don’t go down easy either. You have to hit them very precisely between the eyes. Creepy things. Connor took one down that was right behind me with a throwing knife, couldn’t even sense it. They are really fast.”

“You are riding with me tomorrow,” Carlton said, his face white. “While these ARC people are in town, I want to keep an eye on you.” 

Shawn rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, can we continue now?” Shawn pulled Carlton towards the bedroom and gave him a sultry smile. “Because I need you to fuck me.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the ARC meets the SBPD and plans are made

Spencer stood staring at the map in front of him and leaned back against the table. Or, at least, he planned to lean back against the table, instead he found himself leaning back against a familiar muscular body. Strong arms wrapped around his waist and kissed his neck as he tilted his head back, resting it against the man’s shoulder behind him. He heard a chuckle behind him. 

“Tired?” Derek Morgan asked, running a hand through the soft curly locks. 

“It’s been a long day,” Spencer replied, “This isn’t really that complicated of a case, sexual sadist, religious overtones, you know, but with Connor…”

“An Anomaly definitely makes everything more complicated, I agree,” Derek said, “Still, it’s good to see the kid not injured.”

The precinct door opened and Connor, Abby, Becker, Finn, and another SF walked in. 

“What happened to your shirt?” Spencer asked, smirking, as the two agents broke apart. Connor looked down with surprise, then he looked at the new SF.

“Oh, Ditzy was patching me up, and, hm… Ditzy?” The man shrugged. “I dunno.” 

Prentiss and JJ walked over. “Abby, Becker, Finn,” They greeted the team. 

Becker introduced Ditzy again. “You remember Sanderson from before. He went straight to the hospital with Connor and didn’t stick around much after. He is our field medic.” Ditzy nodded in greeting. 

Hotch and Rossi came over. “Your team arrived, good. Anderson and Merchant?” Hotch asked after scanning the group.

“Matt and Em are with Jordan and Blade, we are splitting the search for the remaining Predators into day shifts and night shifts.” Connor explained. “We relieve them at 8, they will come update you then. I came to tell you not to use your cellphone within a 3 mile vicinity of the anomaly.” 

“Why not?” Rossi asked curiously. 

“Trust me, you don’t want to know...” Connor said darkly

“Connor…” Becker sighed, exasperated 

“It makes the locking mechanism fail.” Ditzy said. 

“How?” Reid asked, curiously

“Well, I use an electromagnetic pulse to lock the anomaly, and then a wave of energy to keep it closed, right?” Connor said, as though this was common knowledge. Reid nodded. No one else seemed to know what he was talking about “Well, each anomaly needs a different signature, because they are all on different wavelengths, it just so happens, that the wavelength needed to keep this anomaly closed is very close to the wavelength that is used for your average mobile. So when you use it, the wavelengths get confused, and it shorts the locking mechanism.” 

“Radios are fine though,” Abby said brightly. “Just use your mobile on radio mode, that should work!” 

“It’s true, the radio wavelength is never as strong as the wavelength needed to lock the device, so it's never a problem. That’s why we always stick to radios.” Connor explained. 

“So, if we use our cellphones we may be flooding the area with more of those creatures?” Summarised Morgan. 

“Pretty much,” Abby confirmed. 

“And they are really not much fun to dance with.” Connor joked. Becker rolled his eyes. 

“Is that where you got that gash on your forearm, then?” Prentiss asked, nodding to his arm. 

“Oh, this?” He asked, looking at his arm. “Yeah, that Shawn character decided to follow me, and a predator got into a bit of a rumble right in front of his car. Of course, the thing decides to go for him in the middle of our fight, and I have to catch it in midair to keep it from ripping the two idiots to pieces. Thankfully it’s not a bad cut.” 

“It was too deep for my liking before you went and pulled all your stitches.” Complained the medic. “And now it’s even worse.” 

“Seriously Connor,” Abby said, “You need to be more careful, I don’t know how much Ditzy and Becker can take you constantly in trouble. Becker aged ten years when you nearly died in the Triassic.” 

“So did Morgan,” Reid laughed and elbowed his boyfriend.

“Sorry Action Man,” Connor said with a wink to Becker, who blushed crimson, “Medical Man, And American Action Man,” He grinned at Ditzy and Morgan in turn. “Them Dinos are my life you know. Predators can go die quietly in a corner though.” He turned a wink to Abby. 

“Here here.” She said.

“Agreed.” Becker said nodding.

“Seconded.” Finn added. 

“Whoever came up with those things had a sick sense of humour.” Ditzy put in. 

“Came up with?” Reid asked. “They aren’t an evolutionary eventuality?”

“Cutter didn’t think so.” Connor said. “And I rather agree. Of course, my specialty isn’t evolutionary science, but with my knowledge of the evolutionary tracks, the bug creatures, could definitely be an evolutionary eventuality, but I think someone messed with science to get the Predators. There seems to be a hint of human intelligence that they have retained which combined with the bat DNA and some sort of other mammalian hunter would have created them. But no, my theory is that they are a lab experiment gone horribly awry.”

“From my study of their behavioral patterns I have noticed some homo sapien traits that they display.” Abby considered out loud. “But they also have such varied other traits that don’t seem to make much sense to go together, and wouldn’t meet in nature. Like, how would bat DNA and Sapien DNA get combined into one animal if it wasn’t on purpose.”

“Compelling argument,” Reid agreed. “I don’t know much about these creatures, but they definitely don’t seem to be natural.”

“Could they have been some twisted experiment of Helen’s?” Becker asked.

“I don’t know.” Connor mused. “I know she was in the future for a while, and lived in the past for a long time, but from what I understand, when she was trying to shut down the ARC it was in order to stop these things being made. I think she assumed that the ARC was the ones who made them in the end. But of course, no one in our era would ever do that because we know what they can do, and the consequences of releasing them.” 

How is your case coming?” Connor asked after a moment’s silence. “FInd the guy at the hospital?”

“We did,” Hotch confirmed. “But he only dropped them off, he had nothing to do with the kidnap and torture. We have another person to find.”

Connor grimaced. “Sorry about that. But you will find him, you always do! And it’s not like his profile puts him as some sort of genius, more just sadistic. And homophobic.” 

Hotch blinked, so did Rossi and JJ. Spencer suppressed a smile. They turned to their genius. “Have you been teaching him profiling Spence?” JJ asked. 

Reid shook his head. “No, he read Rossi’s books. We’ve talked about our past cases, that’s it. He’s a natural.” 

Rossi looked at Connor and sized him up as if he was seeing him for the first time. “Ok, kid, you know the case right? Profile our Unsub.”

Abby stood between Prentiss just watching, smirks on their faces. Becker and Finn were talking to Morgan about their weapons, Ditzy had sat down on the bench and closed his eyes. Hotch and Spencer were watching with interest. 

Connor thought for a moment. “Well, this guy obviously is acting on some pretty intense self hatred. I am guessing these guys are substitutes for himself. They are all around the same age, so I would say that is how old he is. He is in the closet, but he doesn’t have as much courage as these guys to have a straight life in public and a secret gay identity. He is either angry at these men for cheating on their wives with men, or angry at them for not being fully out of the closet. Either way, it is something he himself has done, and is regretting. I would say it’s the former, which is why he leaves them in front of a church to die. He dresses them in women’s clothing and rapes them to punishment for straying outside the societal norm, saying “If they want to be with a man, they should be a woman and take it like a woman”. He tortures them as religious absolution after punishment and leaves them to die so that he could fulfill the fantasy that he is in fact the one being saved by a church.”

Connor looked around. “So, how did I do?” 

Rossi turned to Hotch, “That’s the part we were missing, it was a two part torture, a punishment and an absolution!” 

Morgan came over, “Did the British Genius just out profile our profile?” he asked, putting a hand on Connor’s shoulder and smiling down at him. “Good work Spencer.”

“That’s all him,” Reid said, holding up his hands. “No training from me.”

“Natural instincts huh?” Prentiss asked

“Hey Connor, if you are this good at profiling, why couldn’t you read Philip?” Abby asked. Connor blushed and shot her a look. 

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about what happened with Philip anymore.” He said, an uncharacteristic spark of anger in his eyes.

“Abby, give him a break, profiling is always easier when you have no connection to the person you are looking at. Even the best and most seasoned profilers find themselves in hot water with people they know. Sociopaths and Psychopaths can do that.” JJ said, putting a hand around Abby’s waist.

“Besides, even if I did profile him as a sociopath, he threatened me, there wasn’t much I could do, remember?” Connor huffed and walked out of the station. 

“Philip?” Spencer asked. “Philip Burton? The British Tech Genius and multi billionaire who died a few years ago?” 

Abby nodded. “It’s a long story, but Philip convinced Connor to do work for him concerning the Anomalies, and ended up opening a giant one in his lab. Matt knew Philip was dangerous and we tried to tell Connor, but he wouldn’t listen. Philip finally figured out his anomaly was a mistake when it grew out of control and was about to destroy the planet. He tried to shut it down, and it killed him. We figured out a way to close it and a few weeks after that was when Connor disappeared for six months. We were all still fairly upset when he left, but realised he wasn’t the one at fault. He is a trusting kid. Then when we were in the hospital in New Jersey Connor told us something about Philip.” Becker put his hand over her mouth. 

“Something that he will share if he wants to,” Becker added, “Because it is not our place to talk about.” She looked at him, seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. She pushed his hand away. 

“Well, It’s nearing midnight, and we have to relieve the others bright and early.” She said, turning and heading out to the cars where Connor was waiting, grabbing Finn by the arm as she passed, “Bye!” 

Becker saluted and turned, heading out the door. Ditzy stood and left after him. 

“I heard rumours Philip Burton liked young men.” Spencer said into the silence of the empty precinct. “You don’t think…” he trailed off.

“He did seem pretty upset when she mentioned it.” Prentiss said, 

“Didn’t sound totally consensual,” Morgan agreed, the tension of the silence got to be suffocating. 

“We all need some rest.” Hotch said finally. “Let’s go back to the hotel and get a few hours sleep.” 

//\

“I’m tell you Gus, the guy was like a British Jackie Chan!” Shawn said excitedly to his friend. “They were tigers and he was the dragon.”

“I am guessing you mean the reverse, since they were hiding, Shawn.” Gus said patiently. “And Jackie Chan wasn’t in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

“Nope, this was later, he was definitely the hidden dragon. They came out of this light and he was all - hwah” Shawn made a chopping sound and acted as if he was kicking in midair, coming down to chop through nothing. “There were dozens of those ugly things.”

“How did Lassie react when he found out you followed the Temple kid when they told you not to?” Gus asked as they pulled open the doors to the SBPD. 

“I don’t know if he was more or less relieved when I revealed to him that I took a few of his guns for protection.” Shawn grinned. 

“I’m still working that out myself…” Lassiter said coming up behind them. “What are you knuckleheads doing here?”

Shawn took a look towards the conference room to see a few of the people he saw as he was hiding talking to the BAU. He strode in and went straight up to Matt. “Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective.” He said with a grin, “You are the other members of the ARC.” he sounded confident. He looked them all up and down, trying to remember their names. He put a hand on his temple as if he was reading them Psychically, “Matt, Emily, Jordan, Thompson - better known as Blade,” He grinned as Matt studied him. “NIce to meet you.”

“Don’t pull that one on me kid,” Matt said fiercely. “Connor told us about you.” 

Gus walked in. “Shawn, who are these people, and are you supposed to be in here?” 

“Of Course we are Gus, we are essential to this case!” Shawn said with a grin. “This is the rest of Hidden Dragon.” 

Matt looked Gus up and down. “You don’t have clearance to know what is going on here, you should go,” He stared at Shawn. “You need to sign this.” He placed a pen on a contract and pushed it over to Shawn.

“He saw Connor fight one of those things.” Shawn said imploringly. Gus shrugged and left the room, Lassiter and Juliet walked in with the Chief. He pulled out three more contracts.

“Doesn’t matter. 4 people in one precinct is too many people as it is.” Matt said. “That is 11 people in the United States that know about this now, or will once I finish briefing your Detectives.” He turned to the detectives. 

“I’m Team Leader Matt Anderson, this is Emily Merchant, Andrew Jordan, and Paul Thompson,” He gestured to the rest of the team. “We are half of the group that the ARC has sent out, you met Connor Temple, he and Captain Becker, Abby Maitland, Lance Finnegan, and Douglas Sanderson are still at the site, we couldn’t leave it completely open. We stayed last night, they will be there today. We are here now to debrief you on what happened and fill you in on what is going on.”

Lassiter, Juliet and Chief Vick all nodded and sat down. “I understand you are working with the BAU on a case currently,”

“That is correct,” Juliet said swiftly. “Kidnapping and murder.” Matt shook his head. 

“I don’t need to know the details, they are not pertinent.” He looked at them levely. “I am going to warn you, that what you are about to hear will sound like something out of science fiction, and be difficult to believe.” Lassiter narrowed his eyes, then shot a look at Shawn who tried to look innocent. “Agent Hotchner already told you that the beasts in the southern forests above the abandoned beach are highly dangerous. What we told him to leave out was any mention of where they came from or how they got here.” Matt looked at them, an impressive looking figure with a machine gun strapped to his back, two pistols on his hips, and all in black. He was built like Agent Morgan, and so were the other two men. Who were similarly weaponised and uniformed. The woman had long curly brown hair tied back in a ponytail, wore army boots like the others and a similar rugged outfit. She also had numerous weapons on her person. 

“The creatures that are here are called Predators, and are from the Future.” Matt said. “We think someone has messed with the evolutionary chain in order to create them, they are smart, faster than you can see, vicious, and see using echolocation.” Chief Vick looked skeptical. “They came here through a rip in time called an Anomaly, which is currently still open off the deserted cliff side by the water in one of the southern forests.”

“I’m sorry, a rip in time, to the future?” Vick said skepticism evident in her voice. “Predators who can see with sound and are faster than light?” 

“I saw them Chief!” Shawn said excitedly, “They have long claws that can tear you apart, and Gus nearly hit Connor with his car.” 

“Spencer!” Lassiter shouted with exasperation. 

“You can believe it or not, but it’s the truth.” Matt said with a shrug, “Emily here is from the Victorian period. and ask why the BAU already knew Connor when he arrived.”

Chief Vick turned to the federal agents. “You have seen one of these things?” She asked them. They all nodded. 

“A case a few years ago in New Jersey, the Unsub ran right into the Anomaly as it opened.” Hotch said. 

“And Connor walked right out.” Prentiss sniggered. 

“He had only been gone six months that time,” Emily Merchant said. 

“At least that time his timeline and ours matched up.” Jordan added. 

“It wasn’t the Future that time though,” Morgan said, “It was, what was it?” He asked Reid

“You were the one who went there, you don’t remember?” Reid asked, incredulous. 

“It was two years ago!” Morgan defended

“Triassic.” Reid said. “It was an anomaly to the Triassic era. We saw the anomaly first, met Connor second.” 

“Then there were the Dinosaurs.” Rossi added.

“You weren’t even there for that bit!” Prentiss cried. 

“They were huge, and came right out of the anomaly.” Reid continued. 

“That’s what you said nearly killed him last time.” Juliet said, looking at JJ and Hotch, putting the pieces together. 

“We got there after Connor had stunned one of the two Herrasauruses, and led the other back through the anomaly,” Matt continued

“But not without serious injuries to himself.” Emily added. “He couldn’t use his arm properly for nearly a year afterwords.” 

“Getting it crushed by a fifty ton dino may do that…” Blade said. “I’m surprised he lasted a month in the Future on his own. The creatures there are none too friendly.”

“According to Ditzy, Becker was helping with physical therapy.” Merchant said laughing. 

“Which kind of help are we talking,” Prentiss asked with a wink and a grin.

“Probably both,” the two Emilies and JJ giggled together. Juliet catching their drift tried to contain a smile. 

Matt rolled his eyes. “So there is the truth, you can believe us, or not, but please keep people away from that area for now we don’t want to risk any more civilian casualties. If we could borrow a tent of some kind, that would be grand as well. So no one sees it.” 

“Fine Mr Anderson.” Chief Vick said. “We will do as you ask. I still don’t know if I believe you, but I will comply with your requests.”

“One more thing, We have been told that mobile communication disrupts the locking device. So if you could turn off your mobiles if you are within 3 miles of the site, that would be ideal.” He added. 

“Locking mechanism? Disrupts?” Juliet asked

“Oh,” Matt looked appalled that he forgot. “We have contained the anomaly for now, so nothing can go in or out of it.” He said. “Connor invented something we like to call an anomaly Locker. It just seals the Anomaly so it makes it impenetrable. If it fails, the anomaly will reopen and continue releasing the Predators into this city. Right now, we are on cleanup duty, Connor made a device that will do a scan based on body temperature, we are hoping there aren’t too many more of them running around. If the anomaly opens, hundreds could come through within seconds. You would have a massacre on your hands.” The three detectives looked horrified. To drive it home Matt said, “In fact, we think that the creation of the Predators is what killed the earth in the Future.” 

“Wait, you said that these creatures are from the Future,” Lassiter said slowly. 

Matt snorted, “No one ever said it was a nice future. Trust me mate, you don’t want to know.” Emily rubbed his arms as Matt looked down sadly. “In more than one version of the future nothing is left, the surface isn’t inhabitable by humanity.” 

The BAU looked at each other. That was something they hadn’t heard before. 

The conference room was silent for a while.

“Got it, no cell phones. Radios are ok though, right?” Juliet asked

“I have been told that yes, radios are fine.” Matt assured her. 

“Kicking it old school!” Shawn said with a cheeky grin, “This is gonna be fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW, I wrote SSA Shawn Spencer after i wrote chapter 5, from now on Shawn will be written with that backstory. sorry about some of the previous inconsistancies. I will be going back over them and correcting them as time goes by


End file.
